Queen's Park

  • Kingswood Avenue
  • NW6
  • Usually daylight

Small but perfectly formed, Queen's Park is a great place to hang out, especially if you've got kids. It's amazing how much is packed into the space. As well as grassed areas with mature trees, there's pitch and putt, tennis courts, a mini-children's farm with goats, rabbits and chickens, petanque, gardens and even a woodland walk - which somehow manages to achieve a genuinely natural feel despite being only about 30m wide. The huge playground includes adventure climbing stuff, a giant sand pit for the under-6s, and a paddling pool in summer.

Special events include plays, story-telling and bouncy castles for children in the summer holidays, occasional music on the bandstand on Sunday afternoons, and Queen's Park day - an annual mega-event on a September Sunday with entertainments, food, community stalls and fun. But sometimes things just happen spontaneously, such as a huge crowd gathering to watch a capoeira group who just happened to rehearse on the main lawn one day last year.

The park is owned and maintained by the Corporation of London, and the visibility of their wardens maintains a safe atmosphere.

Enlarged cafe serves a good selection of hot dishes, sandwiches, salads, home-made cakes and ice cream (local firm Disotto's in summer) will. The seriously trendy Salusbury Road and up & coming Kensal Riseare 5 minutes away and offer wider range of food & drink and gift shops.

For more news and background the see the Queen's Park Area Residents' Association QPARA website.

Last edited 2006-04-03 14:31:27 (version 5; diff). List all versions.